"Vampire killers with style"

Remember the days of old when you put that cartridge into your nintendo and starting slashing zombies with your whip of varying lengths? Well the time has come to bring back those feelings with the new Castlevania.

(?)Story: I would rate the story but what's the point this is a castlevania game so i'm sure you can all guess what the story is. Your fiancee is kindnapped and you are hell bent on getting her back. It's not ground breaking or original by any means but this is an action game so story isn't important.

(8/10)Graphics: The graphics are pretty but nothing to write home about. I do however really like the character design of the main character. The reason being is that he greatly resembles my hero Seiji Date. But anyway back to the point. Graphics are very nice and smooth the only problem in the graphics depeartment is that there just isn't that much varyiety in the game. You will see ALOT of rooms used over and over again and well the level designs are quite simplistic. It's hallway into a square room with enemies followed by another hallway. While it doesn't really break the game one does start to enjoy killing enemies in the same environment over and over.

(10/10)Controls: The controls in this game are simply my favorite part of the game. You will use every button in this game. The triangle and square are your strong and weak attacks while the X is your jump and the O is your sub weapon/magic button. The best part about the controls is how well you can do too things at once. Being able to go through menus and fight at the same time is seemless. Trust me you will be going through your menus to find that all important potion in the midst of a few boss battles.

(8/10)Gameplay: I'd give this game a perfect ten if i felt it deserved it but for some reason the game just didn't have the goods. The combat in the game is fun dont' get me wrong and the ability to unlock new moves and coordiante different orbs with sub weapons to produce different movies adds some flavor to the what would have been bland scheme of things. I guess the thing that brings the gameplay down is that the moves you do unlock just don't seem to do anything. The original combos you can pull off work just as well and I can only think of maybe two moves you unlock that truly aid you. But yet i still have not been able to put this game down. There is something about the game that will keep drawing you back in and that is to find the god damn blue dragon key. The game makes you explore every room and every creves in the game to find things and this leads your mindless running around the castle to be actually benefitial to your plight. Many a time I have been running around for no reason only to stumble onto a health increase. There is always somethign to find in the game to make you want to keep playing.

Overall: Overall the game is very fun with enough of the old castlevania mixed with the new to make this a delight for verterans and new comers to the series. The game really feels like the true next step from the 2d era of the series. I'd recommend renting this game to anyone but only a buy to those hardcore fans of the series. Being that this game is not incredibly long so take not of that before you walk up to the counter with this game.